EDM or Electronic Dance Music is music composed primarily using electronic sounds and typically created using software by producers.
Many producers possess musical backgrounds and can perform instruments such as the guitar. But others use computers instead – this method can be very efficient since computers don’t get bored easily!
Definition
Electronic music refers to any sound that involves electronic processing or recording and played back through loudspeakers. As a subgenre of music, electronic has many distinct sounds and styles, and some forms may combine elements from other genres for truly original results; such as trip hop, funk house and techno. Today electronic music has become extremely popular around the globe with major events like Tomorrowland, Awakenings Festival and Electric Daisy Carnival featuring it prominently, while movie soundtracks also featuring electronic-influenced tracks.
Electronic music’s roots date back to the turn of the 20th century when experimental electronics enabled composers to explore new sounds and instruments. Thaddeus Cahill invented a device known as Telharmonium that converted electrical signals to sound. Luigi Russolo suggested replacing traditional forms with instruments reflected current technology. Pierre Schaeffer and Karlheinz Stockhausen later extended these experiments through avant-garde pieces such as musique concrete and Hymnen Dritte Region mit Orchester which expanded musical expression.
Synthesizers were made widely accessible in the 1970s, giving rise to new genres such as krautrock, disco and new wave music. Furthermore, digital technology allowed for programmable drum machines and bass synthesizers; by 1980 industrial music, electronic body music (EDM), and ambient music had begun emerging as distinct genres.
Electronic music has quickly become one of the cornerstones of global club culture in recent years, featuring at major festivals like Tomorrowland, Awakenings and Rave the Planet; artists such as Jon Hopkins, Four Tet and Flying Lotus have forged unique sounds which bridge analog and digital instruments.
Origins
Electronic music refers to any genre created or modified with electronic instruments and/or technology. Its roots lie in modern technology’s introduction into music-making, along with composers’ search for new technical resources that could express musical ideas without traditional tonal thinking – these developments were precursors for musique concrete, Neoclassical and atonal compositions which don’t contain traditional melodies or harmonic progressions.
Thaddeus Cahill invented the first electronic devices for performing music at the end of the 19th Century using a combination of rotary generator and telephone receiver to convert electrical signals to sounds he called telharmoniums. Italian Futurists experimented with nontraditional sounds like mechanical noise and feedback; magnetic tape allowed musicians to edit together various sounds via magnetic tape editing in 1940s which resulted in musique concrete: editing together natural and industrial recordings and cutting out parts and mixing. Toru Takemitsu and Minao Shibata both independently conceived applications for electronics to perform music applications;
The 1950s and 1960s witnessed the rise of rock bands such as White Noise, Silver Apples, and United States of America that used electric instruments like oscillators and synthesizers, leading to new genres like electronica. Recently major electronic artists like Kraftwerk, Jean-Michel Jarre, Bonobo have helped popularize electronica through mainstream club culture such as Tomorrowland Festival or Ultra Music Festival.
Styles
Electronic music differs significantly from rock, rap and classical in that its composers typically utilize synthesizers instead of electric guitars or bass to craft its rich variety of styles. This technique yields various results when used by different composers.
Due to early experiments with sound recording equipment in the 1920s, electronic devices that transformed how we perceive and interpret music emerged. From sound speed adjusting devices like the synthesizer itself to inventions such as sound speed control or pitch shifters, electronic musical instruments have spawned an abundance of styles of music.
Music produced in this style can be easily identified by its repetitive synthesizer patterns; short loops with notes or chords being repeated over and over; use of tempo control to alter song speed; and emphasis on dance floor-friendly beats. Lyrically it often makes references to pop culture or has social commentary embedded within lyrics in form of auto-tuned earworm sounds that catch hold quickly in listeners’ brains.
EDM (Electronic Dance Music) is one of the most beloved and commercially successful electronic genres, boasting artists such as Daft Punk, the Prodigy, Chemical Brothers and their Chemical Brothers label as major stars in this genre. EDM may also be known by other terms like Electro House; these labels do not accurately describe EDM, as its sound has its own particular dancefloor sound style.
Electronic music’s main distinguishing characteristic is that it is created through electronic synthesisers (computers) rather than traditional instruments, providing its creator with unprecedented control and manipulation – for instance, kick drums can be precisely placed at any tempo while vocal samples can be edited until they sound perfect. Furthermore, modulation effects enable ambient, drone, and industrial styles to be created easily.
Techniques
Producing electronic music requires employing several techniques. These may include synthesizers, drum machines and processing samples and recordings to increase creative control over the final sound of your music while creating unique sounds.
EDM producers can also utilize various effects to customize their music’s sound, such as adding delay, reverb and distortion. Doing this will create more complex and layered sounds which can add atmosphere and interest.
Electronic music, as the term suggests, includes any form of musical creation using electronic instruments or technology. However, not all forms produced using these methods qualify as electro music; rather, for a piece of music to qualify as “electronic,” its production must use techniques that mirror available technology at its creation time; so, for instance, theremin music would not qualify but one composed using computer-aided algorithmic composition would.
Edgard Varese and Pierre Schaeffer were early electronic music pioneers that experimented with how sound could be recorded and altered with technology. Utilizing devices such as disc cutting lathe, four turntables and four-channel mixer, as well as various recording equipment they pioneered what later became known as musique concrete or acousmatic art.
Recent technological innovations have given birth to numerous subgenres of electronic music. Artists such as Jon Hopkins and Rival Consoles have taken advantage of this trend by blending electronic sounds with traditional acoustic instruments for added depth. As technology develops further, more hybrid genres will likely arise that combine the best aspects from both worlds.
Influences
Electronic music’s development has been profoundly shaped by computer technology and musical software, specifically as artists have access to more tools for producing sounds and experimenting with effects, giving rise to its many subgenres and ultimately shaping electronic music genre itself.
In the 1920s and 1930s, electronic instruments first began emerging, including mechanically activated noise instruments as well as devices which recorded and reproduced sound using phonograph records. These early electronic instruments served as precursors of modern synthesizers; eventually leading composers using both synthesizers and drum machines to compose rhythmical compositions that explored rhythm, ordered groups of pitches, or other musical elements known as Musique Concrete.
In the 1970s, polyphonic synthesizers became increasingly popular and many rock bands adopted them, including pioneers such as Kraftwerk. Kraftwerk helped pioneer an emerging style of electronic music known as synthpop which encompassed synthpop, disco and techno genres; other bands who pioneered similar styles included Ultravox Yellow Magic Orchestra and Gary Numan.
By the 1980s, synthpop had become an established form of electronic music; by the 1990s trance and acid house were becoming widely-accepted styles that still influence popular dance music today.
EDM emerged during the 2000s, featuring tempos between 120-14 BPM and intricate drum patterns. EDM can be considered a hybrid between electronic dance music and hip hop with influences coming from traditional drumming as well as synthesizers; artists like Deadmau5 and Kaskade have made significant contributions to EDM genre, which is further shaped by other dance forms like dubstep, hardstyle, and moombahton dance styles.